First Time
by Salmon
Summary: Preseries. When a new sharpshooter takes his first case hard, JJ and another colleague have a serious talk with him about what it means to be a sharpshooter.


**First Time**

AN: This isn't about sex, I just couldn't resist the title. I figured the subject of the fiction was something some people would find a little disturbing, hence the rating. This is JJ-centric. Takes place before the Fake Series, but after he was supposed to have known Dee. Oh, and this takes place in LA, cuz I do believe that's where JJ's from. After all, his old friend is from there, and he visited the LAPD in Volume 2.

* * *

The SWAT team exited the building slowly. Bodies were starting to be brought out. From a building across the street three forms emerged as well, two in SWAT uniforms, one just in business clothes. All three were carrying rifle cases.

"Nononono. No way." The female SWAT officer was arguing. She removed her helmet, revealing a wild thatch of red and blonde chunked hair. Her green eyes were alight with the arguement. "It's far from more romantic. I mean, there's barely any romance in the King and I."

Despite the recently removed goggles in one hand, the plain-clothed officer's silver and purple hair seemed perfectly in place. He turned his frowning blue eyes on the woman as he turned around to walk backwards so they could continue the arguement. "That's what so romantic about the King and I - it's all understated."

"Jamie, neither couple ends up together. Both the guys DIE." The woman complained.

"One of the guys die in South Pacific too! So what makes it more romantic? The fact that one of the couples ends up together? That doesn't make it more romantic! Does the fact that they die make Romeo and Juliet less romantic?"

"Don't even get me started. I do not understand people's attachment to Romeo and Juliet. Not in the least." The woman waved off.

"Craig, help me out here, will you?" The plain-clothed officer turned to the last member of the group.

Young looking, with shoulder-length blonde hair, and light blue eyes darkened with an unnamed emotion, the second SWAT officer glanced up, startled to be addressed. "I'm sorry, JJ, what was the question?"

"What's more romantic? South Pacific or King and I?" The female SWAT officer lept in. "South Pacific, right?"

"No influencing, Rita! He has to give his honest opinion!" JJ complained at her.

Craig blinked. "Um...don't think I've ever seen either." He paused when the two stared at him. "What?"

"Never seen them?" JJ asked.

"Like, either, ever?" Rita added.

"No?" Craig offered.

"You've totally missed out!" Rika squeaked. "I can't believe this! Must rectify this problem!" She looked around wildly. "Movie store! Where's a movie store?!"

JJ burst out laughing at her antics, but Craig wasn't as amused. "Are you ever serious?" He snapped at her. The playful aura faded as Craig stormed ahead. JJ and Rita glanced at eachother.

"First time?" JJ guessed. Rita nodded, and the two hurried after the younger officer. "Hey, life's too short to be serious." JJ grabbed his arm, smiling brightly.

"You can say that again!" Rita echoed, coming up alongside. "Let's go get a drink!"

Before Craig could reply some other officers came up. "Hey you three, great shooting." One gave them a thumb's up.

"Expect any less from LA's finest?" Rita asked with a cocky wink.

"Well, "LA's Finest" has some paperwork to fill out." A voice said from behind them.

"Um, hi bossman! How's it hanging?" Rita whirled around.

"How does it look?" The man behind them arched an eyebrow, glancing at the shot up buildings around them.

"Like alot of paperwork." JJ glanced around, then over at the man. "There any chance we could fill it out tomorrow, boss?" He asked. He tilted his head toward Craig, who he still had the arm of. The younger man missed it, as his eyes were cast down.

The man frowned, but with a glance at Craig his eyes softened. "Alright, alright - you slackers. But you better have it done before noon!"

"Right-o, boss." JJ saluted with a smile.

"Um, yes, sir." Craig, a little lost on what was happening, saluted as well.

"Yessiree, Bossman." Rita grinned, and gave a weak salute. The man shot her a glare, but walked away. "Okay, let's find a bar...Hey, wait a minute, JJ! You're back at the LAPD tomorrow." Rita hit his arm.

"I'll swing by and fill out the paperwork with you, I promise." JJ smiled innocently.

"You better or I'll make you regret it! I'll tell Frank you've got a crush on him!"

"Ew, yuck! Don't you dare!" JJ let go of Craig's arm to grab for Rita.

"Nana!" Rita dodged away, sticking out her tongue. Craig sighed heavily, and followed them, an angry look on his features.

* * *

At a small bar the three sat a table, glasses in front of each of them. Craig was rolling the glass between his hands.

"It's more fun to drink it, guaranteed." Rita told him, downing her second drink.

"It's more help to drink it too." JJ told Craig, an extra note in his voice as he took a gulp from his own glass.

Craig glanced up. "Help?" He queried.

"Drinkydrinky!" Rita ordered, pushing the cup to his lips. Craig complied, drowning the liquor.

"Whoa..." He blinked blankly for a moment before sitting back. "Um..."

"Another round!" JJ ordered from the passing waitress, and finished his own glass.

"So, what musicals have you seen, Craig?" Rita asked.

"None." He muttered.

"None?" Rita asked. "NONE? Like, not a one, never ever, not even a piece of a piece of a scene?" She demanded.

"Yes, exactly - none." Craig glared at her.

"That's a shame." JJ told him. "We've gotta introduce you to some."

"How can you...How can you..." Craig tried to get out, but failed. The waitress arrived with their drinks, and he grabbed two and downed them.

"Whoa..." Rita stared.

"I think we'll need another round." JJ told the waitress, who was staring, taking the last cup and handing it to Rika, who downed it. It was going to be a long night.

"How is it possible?" Craig asked suddenly several drinks later.

"How is anything possible?" Rita offered back. They were getting pretty drunk.

"You two act like nothings happened!" He shouted out. "And how can you when...?! When..?? When..." His shouts became a murmur instead. Several of the patrons glanced their way, but decided to mind their own business.

"There's an old saying. The first time is always the hardest." JJ told him. "But it's the second time that proves your worth."

"What?" Craig blinked.

"Never killed before, had you?" Rita asked him, sounding a bit more sober.

"No." Craig admitted.

"Gets easier." Rita assured him.

"But the aftermath is always hard." JJ told him. "The guilt's never gonna go away."

"Shouldn't you be telling me something a bit more comforting than that?" The younger officer asked.

Rita shook her head. "Not gonna deceive you, kid."

"But you two act so...so..."

"Eccentric?" JJ suplied.

"Probably thinking more along the lines of completely bonkers and a little childish." Rita offered.

"Bonkers?" JJ turned to her. "Who uses that word anymore?"

"Me." She stuck her tongue out at him.

"That's exactly what I'm talking about. Right there, how can you act like THAT when..." Craig downed the rest of his glass.

Rita and JJ exchanged a glance. "When my teacher found out I was going to be a SWAT sharpshooter, he gave me some advice." Rita told him. "Act crazy, or go crazy."

"What kind of advice is that?"

"Really good advice." JJ told him. "You have to have release somehow. For Rita and I it's acting like nuts. If meditating is more your style, go for it...but DO SOMETHING. Don't dwell on it. Cuz then you really will go insane. Believe me."

Craig didn't reply until the waitress brought their next round of drinks and left. "So you're saying don't let it bother me?"

"Not exactly."

"It's bound to bother you." Rita took the conversation back over. "You wouldn't be human, or atleast any human worth his life, if killing someone didn't bother you."

"But if you spend all your time dwelling on it, it'll eat away at you until there's nothing left." JJ told him.

Rita downed her drink before continuing. "The simple truth, and it isn't a pretty one, is that the three of us are hired killers."

Craig stared. "Hir...Hire..."

Rita nodded. "That's right. Sure, the official title is "sharpshooter", and sometimes we get lucky and we only have to shoot a person in the arm or leg, or shoulder. But most of the time, when they call us in, they need someone taken out. Some guy holding someone hostage. Some looney holding a bomb detonator. Someone who the world will most likely not mourn much, but it's stil a living, breathing person. And we're brought in to make them very stiff and dead."

Craig downed his drink. "I don't like thinking about it that way."

"Neither do we." JJ said grimly. "Neither does anyone else, which is why we're called Sharpshooters, why we have to file so much damn paperwork when the job's done. And why Rita and I act so - "

"Nuts." Rita put in.

"Eccentric." JJ finished instead. "Because noone else wants to remember what we're called in for. What we do. Sure - they'll say "Nice shooting", which is was, but then they'll forget. And that's what's best. Do you really want people to see someone who gets called in to go around killing people when they look at you?"

"No. Oh god, no." Craig shook his head.

"Neither do I. So if people think of me as any other way - good or bad, I don't care. As long as they don't see that."

"This is depressing." Rita sunk down so she could rest her chin on the table. "MORE DRINKS!!!"

* * *

"Ba-li Hi will call you! Any night! Any day!" Rita sang at the top of her lungs as they stumbled down the street.

"Rita, the key." JJ held out his hand as they came up to an apartment building.

"E flat I think." Rita replied.

"To your apartment." JJ corrected.

"Oh, here." She reached into her pocket and pulled it out. "Here am I! Your special island! Come to me! Come to me!"

Managing to drag her inside with Craig's house, JJ unlocked the door while Craig held his hand over Rita's mouth. Rita kept trying to sing anyway. "Here, try to make it to the couch." JJ gave her her key, and slammed the door shut before she could sing anymore.

"Now I don't ever want to see a musical." Craig giggled as they came back out onto the street.

JJ grinned. "Which way to your apartment?" He asked, a bit woozy himself. He'd drunken less than the other two to make sure someone in the group would insure their safe return home, but he wasn't going to be denied his own release, so he was still on a high buzz.

"House is this ways!" Craig grabbed his arm and dragged him up the street.

"Hard not to think about it still." Craig admitted. They'd come to a house-lined street, and he had yet to let go of JJ's arm.

"Don't think...too late for it...early for it...whatever." JJ told him. "Come morning, your hangover will take care of any hope at thinking then."

"Don't want to think, it hurts...I killed someone."

"He would have killed innocent people if you hadn't." JJ told him.

"He was scum...but I killed him...did he have a family?"

"Don't ask that, never ask that." JJ told him. "Don't go looking to find out tomorrow, either. That's the last thing you need to find out. Don't let it consume you, Craig. Don't ever let it consume you."

"Don't want to know...don't want to think." Craig leaned heavily onto JJ's shoulder, burying his face in his neck. JJ blushed, but didn't push him away.

"2115? We're here." JJ led the way up to the front door. "Do you live here alone?"

"Sister's off in Europe with her boyfriend." Craig answered. "Stupid guy, don't like him...don't like my sister much either."

JJ looked at the young man sadly. "C'mon, where's the key."

"Oh, the key..." Turning his head, but keeping it rested on JJ's shoulder, Craig dug into his pocket, eventually finding the key. "Gots it..." He studied the door. "Ugly door, isn't it?"

"I suppose so." JJ replied, as Craig began to unlock the door. "Will you be alright on your own?" He gasped when Craig turned, grabbing his shoulders and pushing him back against the doorframe. "Craig-" His words were cut off when the younger man kissed him.

"I don't want to think." Craig repeated, kissing him again.

He was a hell of a kisser for someone two years younger than him, JJ decided. For several minutes he was too busy enjoying the kiss to argue. His arms wound around Craig's neck and the other man's slid down his arms and came to rest on his waist. When Craig's hands loosened his tie and began to unbutton his shirt, he pulled back. "We shouldn't do this." He told him.

"Why?" Craig asked, kissing along his jawline.

"Um...well, I guess you're not married, huh?"

"Nope..."

"Girlfriend?"

"No."

"Boyfriend?"

"Not that either."

"I'm sure there's a reason...I'm not seeing anyone, am I?" JJ asked him, his mind still fogged with alcohol.

"Not that I know of. Sure Rita would have said something if you were."

"Oh...and Rita's your partner, right? Not me?"

"You're only part-time SWAT, so - no - we aren't partners." Craig answered, kissing down his neck. "Please, I don't want to think."

JJ closed his eyes, wondering if they'd regret this in the morning. "Let's go inside, Craig."

Craig kissed him again, pulling him tightly against him as they stumbled inside and shut the door.

**Fini**

* * *

I didn't plan on that ending originally. But Craig and JJ took over the story. I wrote this awhile back. Some of you may know it from affnet. Yep, I'm Id-chan over there. Shh! That's a secret. NOT! I still like Rita and Craig. Maybe I should bring them into a future story...

_**Salmon**_


End file.
